Qatar MotoGP: Marquez tops first Friday practice

MotoGP rookie Marc Marquez defied sandy conditions, and the odd drop of rain, to outpace the Yamaha riders during the first of Friday's free practice sessions in Qatar.

Just as on Thursday, Valentino Rossi led the majority of the session only to lose out in the final five minutes.

Yesterday it was M1 colleagues Jorge Lorenzo and Cal Crutchlow who pipped the Italian. Lorenzo repeated the feat this evening - before Honda rookie Marquez shot from ninth to first with the best lap of the weekend!

Moto2 champion Marquez, the top RCV rider but +0.591s on Thursday, concluded the session with a 0.268s advantage over Lorenzo, followed by Rossi (+0.328s), Crutchlow (+0.692s) and LCR Honda's Stefan Bradl (+0.780s).

Of those, only Marquez and Bradl - second to Rossi during the middle stages of the 45-minutes - were able to beat their best FP1 lap time. Marquez ran on at turn one moments after setting his best lap.

Lorenzo was reported to have again tried the latest Yamaha chassis, which Rossi decided against after testing at Jerez.

Andrea Dovizioso was again the top Ducati rider, this time in sixth place and 1.3s from Marquez.

Marquez's team-mate and triple title runner-up Dani Pedrosa, eighth after struggling with corner entry problems on Thursday, was again seen running off-track on his way to seventh this evening (+1.4s).

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